Chapter 2

DEVIL MAKE A THIRD is not structurally complex. The events in each chapter occur chronologically from about 1890 until 1915, however, the author employs 12 asides called Interludes to move the timeline forward rapidly so that the novel can cover over 25 years of Buck Bannon's life within its 33 chapters. Each Interlude is a confidential conversation between two railway brakemen who always discuss the consequences of Buck's actions in Aven which have been described in a few previous chapters. Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and the first Interlude make up the first of these 13 major divisions of the novel. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 describe Buck's life on the family farm,  Buck's first impressions of Aven and how he got into the position to make his fortune on his first morning after waking up in town. The first Interlude has the brakemen discuss how the action in the first two chapters has shown how Buck became Aven's first teenage loan shark and on the road to riches a little over a year after arriving in town.

Chapter 2 opens on Buck's first morning in Aven with him resting on top of a baggage truck beside Aven's railroad depot. The strict order of the chapters does not prevent the author from taking an excursion into the past. The first three pages of Chapter 2 describe, through Buck's dream-like stream of consciousness, his impressions of two of his younger brothers and his parents. Buck judges his new bed on top of the baggage truck to be superior to the pallet which he had shared with two brothers on the floor of their parents' house during the nights before arriving in Aven. This view of the two younger brothers through Buck's mind's eye shows the reader the characteristics of Jeff Bannon which will lead him to become Buck's life-long business partner and the flaws of Hearn Bannon which will result in Buck finally telling his despicable brother in Chapter 27, "I'd have killed any other man. You'll be lucky to just walk out."  

After thoughts of his brothers fade, Buck then recalls a philosophical expression his mother used to describe the fear she held for the future of her family: "Shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves." This popular 19th century expression was used to describe the phenomenon of one generation of a family that overcame poverty by accumulating wealth having the family's fortune destroyed by the poor decisions of future generations who refuse to make the sacrifices necessary to maintain the family's assets. Jeannie Bannon's doubts about her sons' ability to hold on to what she and Joe had accumulated during the tumultuous years during and immediately after  Reconstruction drive Buck's ambition and makes him strive to show his mother that she has raised a farm boy who uses his rural experience to conquer every obstacle that the growing young town of Aven puts in front of him.

This chapter introduces the reader to the newly constructed town of Aven consisting of "a row of tin-roofed store buildings lining the street nearest the railroad" and a few unpainted houses. At the end of some trails leading off from the one business street could be found a few painted houses owned by the village elite.  Buck sees Aven's new buggies and painted houses and knows he has to find a way so he can own a new buggy and a new house . As the novel progresses, this "germ of a town" grows along with Buck's business success and just as Buck appears to adopt Aven as his home at first sight, the people of Aven will also adopt Buck as one of their own and will extend the opportunity for him to express his commercial and political genius in every chapter of the novel that follows this one. Buck's obsession with guiding Aven's growth is a major force in moving the novel's action forward but Buck's first impression of the town is that "right now it looks like somebody just flung it out there because they didn't have no use for it."

Buck's dream-like stream of consciousness is interrupted by the yells of a railroad clerk who ends up offering Buck a laborer's job as soon as he wakes up. Buck declines saying,"Much obliged but I ain't aimin' to dig in no more dirt." Buck bids the clerk goodbye and hops off the baggage truck to begin his first walk down Aven's single business street. He's hungry and he wants a job "long as it ain't handlin' a tool."

Buck's short journey ends in front of a general store where he encounters a family from the country who have come to town intent on trading a calf for seed and tobacco. As Buck and the family wait for the owner of the store to wait on customers, Buck decides he'll do the owner of the store a favor and see if he can be of service to the waiting family himself. This results in Buck trading a sack of seed, two plugs of tobacco and a stick of licorice candy for the calf. Both Buck and the family are pleased with the trade and the family leaves the store with the goods and with Buck in possession of the calf.

When the store owner finally gets the time to wait on Buck, he is enraged to find out that Buck has taken such liberty with his merchandise but when Buck offers to buy the calf in order to cover the cost of merchandise he traded to the family, the owner declines the offer because he knows the calf is worth twice as much as the goods Buck traded for it. Buck asks for a job and the owner agrees and shakes on the deal before he and Buck ever discuss salary.

Their salary negotiations result in Buck getting the sales job in the store plus the owner agrees to allow Buck to live in the back of the store. Living in proximity to the source of one's cash flow is a theme repeated for the rest of the novel. The new store's business is so hectic that the owner understands he needs an employee like Buck and allowing him to live in the back of the store frees him from having to open up in the morning. During these negotiations, Buck takes the liberty of eating a couple of the store's bananas so Chapter 2 ends with Buck accomplishing everything he set out to do on his first morning in Aven,"Food comes first. Then I got to get me a job-job where a man don't have to use a tool." And Buck does it all without ever breaking his $20 gold piece.